Tutor firm chief not satisfied with unit

Yu Minhong, founder and chairman of Chinese private tutoring company New Oriental Education and Technology Group, has expressed his dissatisfaction over East Buy, the livestreaming e-commerce arm of New Oriental. Industry experts said East Buy is facing mounting challenges in its transformation after its most influential livestreamer Dong Yuhui walked out of a broadcast room of the company.

The experts added that as livestreaming has become a key method widely adopted by merchants to attract users and boost sales revenue, more efforts are needed to strengthen supervision over the burgeoning e-commerce livestreaming segment and improve the professionalism and quality of livestreaming anchors.

During a recent livestreaming session with Zhang Wenzhong, founder of Chinese retailer Wumart Group, Yu described East Buy as "messed-up" currently and indicated his intention to distance himself from businesses and disputes to focus on his personal life.

His comments came after East Buy had seen a decline in both the number of followers on Chinese short-video platform Douyin and sales revenue, and a shift in its approach to live broadcasts, as livestreamers tend to adopt an exaggerated and commercialized style to promote products.

Yu once said he preferred introducing commodities in a calm way while disseminating related knowledge in a live broadcasting program, rather than the aggressive sales tactics that are widely used nowadays. Yu also added that he looked down on the "howling noises "that he said typify livestreaming-based e-commerce.

East Buy opened a new and exclusive livestreaming channel on Douyin in December for its top livestreamer Dong after a dispute that sparked an online debate at that time. The move was expected to attract Dong's fans into his new livestreaming room.

Dong, once an English language tutor at New Oriental, has gone viral and amassed a huge number of followers since June 2022 due to his eloquence and articulate speaking style.

Data from iiMedia Research showed that revenue of China's livestreaming e-commerce sector reached 1.7 trillion yuan ($234.7 billion) last year, up 16 percent year-on-year. This figure is expected to reach 2.14 trillion yuan in 2025.

Jiang Han, a senior analyst at market consultancy Pangoal, said, "As competition in the livestreaming e-commerce sector is heating up, livestreamers will no longer be limited to a certain online marketplace and choose different platforms to increase their exposure and rev up sales."

Jiang added that the authorities should formulate and improve relevant laws and regulations to better regulate the healthy development of the livestreaming e-commerce sector, as well as strengthen the supervision and testing of product quality, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

He also called for establishing a ranking system for livestreaming e-commerce and giving the assessments of anchors and merchants to improve the transparency and integrity of the industry.

Pan Helin, a member of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Expert Committee for Information and Communication Economy, said livestreaming e-commerce companies should make adjustments to reduce overreliance on top livestreaming anchors and nurture new ones, while strengthening management in supply chains and after-sales service.